(2) Amelia MARCHANT is listed in a household headed by her father, William MARCHANT, in the 1851 census of Maidstone, Kent, England. The census was taken as of March 30, 1851.

Amelia is listed in the 1851 census as a person who was then 4 years of age; therefore, according to the 1851 census, she was born in about 1847. According to the 1851 census, she was born in Maidstone, Kent, England.

(4) Amelia MERCHAT is listed in a household headed by her father, William MERCHAT, in the 1860 census of the 3rd Ward of Toledo, Lucas County, OH. [The compiler believes that Amelia MERCHAT was Amelia MARCHANT.]

According to the 1860 census, Amelia was then 13 years of age; therefore, according to the 1860 census, she was born in about 1847. According to the 1860 census, she was born in England.

(5) Amelia SIMPSON is listed in a household headed by her husband, Robert K. SIMPSON, in the 1870 census of the 7th Ward of Toledo, Lucas County, OH.

According to the 1870 census, Amelia was then 23 years years of age; therefore, according to the 1870 census, she was born in about 1847. According to the 1870 census, she was born in England.

Amelia SIMPSON, communicant no. 312, transferred her membership to this church from St. John's Episcopal Church, Toledo, OH, in 1870. Amelia removed to IA on some unspecified date.

(7) Amelia SIMPSON is listed in a household headed by her husband, Robert SIMPSON, in the 1880 census of Pleasant Grove Township, Des Moines County, IA.

According to the 1880 census, Amelia was then 32 years of age; therefore, according to the 1880 census, she was born in about 1848. According to the 1880 census, she was born in England, and both of her parents were born in England.

(8) Amelia SIMPSON is listed in a household headed by her husband, Robert SIMPSON, in the 1900 census of Dry Fork Precinct, Morrow County, OR.

According to the 1900 census, Amelia was born in September 1846, and was then 53 years old. According to the 1900 census, Amelia was born in England, and both of her parents were born in England. According to the 1900 census, she had then been married 37 years [although her husband had supposedly been married only 36 years], and had given birth to 5 children, all of whom were living.

(9) Mrs. A. SIMPSON is listed as a lodger in a household headed by G. Copenman in the 1920 census of Astoria, Clatsop County, OR.

According to the 1920 census, Mrs. A. was a widow who was 78 years old; therefore, according to the 1920 census, she was born in about 1842. According to the 1920 census, she was born in England, and both of her parents were born in England. According to the 1920 census, she emigrated to the U.S. in 1876 and was a naturalized citizen of the U.S. [The compiler believes that the year of her emigration to the U.S. is incorrect.]

I was very much pleased to receive your letter. It was such a nice letter just the kind I liked to get. It realy [sic] did sound as if you were talking to me and so I am hurring [sic] up to answer. I don't remember ever seeing your mother [Susie (MARCHANT) HALE] or Aunt Clara [(MARCHANT) TIBBETTS] after they were married. I knew Tom Tibbets [sic] well but I can't recall your Father [Joseph Franklin HALE] at all and some way I never wrote to your mother much but I used to write to Clara and wrote very often to Aunt Mat [Martha (MARCHANT) BARR]. I visited her several times in San Francisco and Long Beach after her death [sic]. I didn't write so often but I still keep up a correspondence with the girls [presumably Mat's daughters]. They never married. Neither did Robert [presumably Mat's son]. They all live together. They moved from Long Beach to Encinadas farther south. Sidney and Harry [presumably Mat's sons] both married. Sidney lives in California. Harry in or near Cansas [sic] City. I had lovly [sic] visits with them but Mat was poorly and couldn't stand as much as I could and it seems she got weaker & weaker until the last the girls said they didn't realize how weak and poorly she was. She died in Jan 1928. I am much pleased to know that my letter gave you a little pleasure. Thank you Grace [HALE, Amelia's niece] for the compliment. My mother's people were raised and lived in Maidstone and six of us children were borned [sic] there. Aunt Emily [MARCHANT] was the youngest and a baby when they came to America. Willie was borned [sic] in this country and died here. He was one year and [one-]half old then. John [MARCHANT] was next or maybe Clara. That was 9 of us. I'm the only one left. My father['s] family lived in a town call[ed] Westerham (pronounced Westrom) but mother lived in Maidstone and six of us were borned [sic] but they lived at different places. If you look at the map of England you will see many places where they lived at different times. Many uncles and aunts. I don't think it was far from London. Mother saw the Queen Victoria many times and they allways [sic] went to the derby races so it wasn't far for the gentry as they called the big bugs. These are some of the names of places[:] Sevenoaks[,] Dover[,] nearly all the places in Kent[,] Bessels Green[,] many more I can't think of but the Kent was were [sic] the relations lived. Mother's maiden name was Watkins [sic, probably should be SMITH]. Mother's cousin William Watkins owed all the brewery and taverns around there. The White Heart [sic, probably should be Hart] Inn I think was in Sevenoaks. I saw a picture of [it] in a magizine [sic] story. The sign hund [sic] out in front. I often wished I cut it out and saved it. That was one of Will Watkins' property [sic]. If I could talk to you I could tell little stories mother told us.

I'll close for this time but will write again. I'm going to see my grandson Saturday and will get him to take some pictures of us and will send you some. So good bye dearies from Aunt Meal with love and best wishes to all.

I'll try a few lines toward a letter to you. I've just finished a job and wraped [sic] it ready to mail. Now guess what it is. It's a [sic] appliqued butterfly quilt. I made 30 [?] and have just got it ready for the mail tomorrow. It's for Clara [presumably Clara (HALE) FROST, Amelia's niece]. She seems interested in quilts. She said she had quilted one so I sent her blocks for another. We are having teriable [sic] weather. It keeps quite cold and the wind blows awful and how it does rain. It rained all night last night and the wind blew a gale and it's still raining with some hail. Well I don't have to be out so I should worry.

I'm glad Cathey [sic, presumably Cathie Mae JACK, Flosssie's granddaughter] liked the doll. I guess I told you we made them for our shower but the little girls couldn't come so I have put the other in my hope chest. Funny thing for a hope chest isn't it. Well I've got a rag doll[,] a little pin cushion with a squirel [sic] gnawing an ear of corn worked on it[,] five holders (and believe me they are pretty)[,] and 6 blocks start[ed] on another quilt. So I'm getting it filled up again but I've got a smaller one this time but I'll soon have it full.

No[,] Flossie[,] we do not live any where near the flood zone.

You ask when us children were borned [sic]. Yes I do or think I do. Henry[,] Grace[,] Martha and Amelia[,] Susannah [and] Emily were borned [sic] in Kent[,] the flower of England it was called. Maidstone was my mother's home and Westerham (pronounced Westrom) [was my father's home]. But I'm pretty sure we lived mostly in Maidstone because I remember a man came to see us once that wanted to meet a man that once lived in that city but they talked a great deal of Dover and Sevenoaks and other places[,] all in Kent. The man that owned the Brewery was my mother's cousin William Watkins or Joe[,] I don't remember but I've read some old English stories which spoke of the tavern at Sevenoaks[,] the White Heart [sic, probably should be Hart] Inn. It and numerous other places of that kind was [sic] owned by Watkins. I think he was quite wealthy but you might know perhaps no matter how much you are worth and in any business you are only trades people and a line is drawn between them and the gentry as the titled people are called. I suppose you have read a good deal of that in the hubub [sic] about Davy and Walley so all of Kent might be our home. I don't know the name of the brewery. I suppose we have relations in England but I don't know anything about any of them since Unce Fred Marion Hully's parents came to America. There were a large family [sic] on both the Marchant and Smith side but some went to Austrailia [sic] and some to America. So that's as far as I know. You know we are not much for hunting up relations or anyone we used to know.

Well I think I've answered all the questions. If not ask again. It's getting dark and our boy has to start to school early in the morning as he takes the mail to the office on his way and brings back mail days which will be tomorrow if the weather isn't too bad. So with love to all I am as ever your loving Aunt Meal.

I must tell you we had company Sunday. One of our neighbors and their daughter 12 years old. We had a nice time. I showed them all my things. They were pleased with everything. The girl went into Rabtures [sic] over all my hope chest and wants to learn how to make things so I told her I'd help her any time. Well bye bye lovelies.

(12) Amelia SIMPSON is listed in a household headed by her daughter[-in-law], Oley SIMPSON, in the 1940 census of Portland, Multnomah County, OR. The official enumeration date of this household is April 1, 1940; the actual enumeration date of this household is April 6, 1940.

This household is listed at 936 Lexington.

Amelia is listed in the 1940 census as a widow who was then 91 years of age; therefore, according to the 1940 census, she was born in about 1849. According to the 1940 census, she was born in England. According to the 1940 census, her residence as of April 1, 1935 was at the same place as it was as of April 1, 1940.

(13) Amelia (MARCHANT) SIMPSON's addresses during the period from 1937 to 1943, per Groh, The House of Andrew, p. 55:

(14) Amelia (MARCHANT) SIMPSON's death certificate indicates that she died in La Grande, Union County, OR on December 18, 1943; that the immediate cause of her death was mitral insufficiency; and that a contributing cause of her death was arteriosclerosis. [The mitral valve is the valve between the left atrium and ventricle of the heart, consisting of two triangular flaps of tissue, that prevents the blood from flowing back into the atrium.]

LA GRANDE, Dec. 20. - Mrs. Amelia Simpson, 95, died here Saturday. The body was sent to Portland. A native of Kent, England, Mrs. Simpson had lived in Oregon over 70 years. She leaves two daughters, Mrs. M. S. Williams, with whom she lived, and Mrs. Gertrude Leach of Bremerton, Wash.

Thank you for your interest in the Merchant family. I'm sorry that I have not responded sooner. You imply in your note that you sent me a letter after my initial query to you. I did not receive it and therefor did not know that you were interested.

I am glad that you decided to write to me again. I wish that I had more to share with you. I am sending you the family sheets that I have and sincerely hope that you will be able to fill in some gaps.

I am the gggrandaughter of Amelia MERCHANT who was born in Kent England in 1848. She met Robert King SIMPSON while living in Toledo Ohio and married him on 13 November 1868. Robert and Amelia moved to Iowa and then to Oregon where they lived out their lives. Amelia out lived her son and most of her children. She died in 1943 at the age of 95.

I know that William Merchant was a native of England and married Susanna Smith, the daughter of John Smith and Sara Watkins. They came to America @ 1854 and lived in Toledo, Ohio in 1860. In 1880, they were in Des Moines, Iowa.

Though I never have had the privilege of meeting any of Amelia's children or grandchildren (my own grandfather died before her), I have gotten information from one of her daughters that did outlive Amelia. She gave me the following information:

Amelia Marchant's grandfather, John Smith, married Sara Watkins and was a Nurseryman in Kent County, England at Maidstone, Seven Oaks and Westerman.

Will Watkins, Sara's nephew, owned breweries and taverns in that area, and one of the taverns was the "White Hart Inn" at Seven Oaks.

The gentry of the area, who traveled all over the world, would bring back seeds and plants for John Smith to try in his hothouse where he raised vegetables and flowers.

Amelia came to this country when she was 8 years old. Her bonnet blew off aboard ship and another little girl gave Amelia one of hers.

Amelia also maintained the reason the family left Kent was that an aunt of hers had made herself a bonnet like Queen Victoria wore, and had worn it to church. This was not accepted behavior in those days, and so embarrassed the family that they emigrated to America.

I hope that the family sheets I am enclosing are of some help to you. Please help me fill in the blanks. Your help would be greatly appreciated.